Posted by Unreal Unearth, the third studio album by Hozier, was released on August 18, 2023, and it immediately became a trending streaming all over the Internet. Every song has a deep meaning, confirming Hozier’s ability to disclose a special meaning behind the lyrics’ poetry. First Time was one of the most popular songs from the album: a unique descent into the significance Hozier’s partner had for him. Let’s explore the song’s meaning – you’ll also find the complete lyrics at the end.
You can find Hozier’s First Time in full streaming below in this article.
First Time: the song lyrics & meaning
First Time is a song about the importance Hozier’s partner had in his self-perception. In the lyrics, Hozier reflects on how his view of himself differed before meeting her: he feels he was born again when she entered his life.
The most significant lyrics of First Time are the ones where we can understand the song’s meaning:
And the first time that you kissed me
I drank dry the River Lethe
In Greek mythology, River Lethe is one of the five rivers of the underworld of Hades. It’s also known as the river of forgetfulness: according to mythology, a soul drinking from this will forget everything that happened in his previous life, allowing it to finally reincarnate. Symbolically, Hozier feels that his first kiss with his current girlfriend represents an authentic rebirth, allowing him to be a new man.
As an existential, romantic song, First Time is dedicated to the change this girl introduced in Hozier’s life. According to the singer’s perception of himself, life before her was empty and awful. This is made clear in the first lines, where Hozier describes the sound his name had before her:
Remember once I told you about
How before I heard it from your mouth
My name would always hit my ears as such an awful sound
As a true, symbolical reincarnation, there is a part of you that dies (the one connected to the memories you lost) and another one that comes alive (the beginning of a new life). This is apparent in the song’s chorus:
Some part of me must have died
The first time that you called me, “Baby”
And some part of me came alive
The first time that you called me, “Baby”
The lyrics of First Time continue with more poetry. In the song’s second half, Hozier first speaks as he died and his mother brought flowers to his grave; then he impersonates a dying flower that returns to earth and becomes part of a new life cycle.
These days I think I owe my life
To flowers that were left here by my mother
Sensing only now it’s dyin’
Drying out, then drowning blindly
Bloomin’ forth its every colour
In the moments it has left
To share the space with simple living things
Somehow, the song ends on a different note, and Hozier starts mentioning the “final time” (no longer the “first time”), projecting the lyrics on the ending of this relationship. A point they reached independently from their will. Like something that had to happen and forced them to resign.
The last time it was heard out loud
The perfect genius of our hands and mouths were shocked
To resignation as the arguing declined
First Time is a song about being born again through love and experiencing it until the end, and that’s the real meaning behind its lyrics: You made me forget myself (Lou Reed would share it with these words); I came alive again after you arrived. And like a flower blooming and then dying, I follow the circle of life, looking at what awaits me after our love’s end.
The song streaming & the complete lyrics
Remember once I told you about
How before I heard it from your mouth
My name would always hit my ears as such an awful sound
And the soul, if that’s what you’d call it
Uneasy ally of the body, it felt nameless as a river
Undiscovered underground
And the first time that you kissed me
I drank dry the River Lethe
The Liffey would have been softer on my stomach all the same
But you spoke some quick new music
That went so far to soothe this soul
As it was and ever shall be, unearth without a name
Some part of me must have died
The first time that you called me, “Baby”
And some part of me came alive
The first time that you called me, “Baby”
These days I think I owe my life
To flowers that were left here by my mother
Ain’t that like them, giftin’ life to you again
This life lived mostly underground
Unknowin’ either sight nor sound
‘Til reachin’ up for sunlight just to be ripped out by the stem
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Sensing only now it’s dyin’
Drying out, then drowning blindly
Bloomin’ forth its every colour
In the moments it has left
To share the space with simple living things
Infinitely suffering, but fighting off like all creation
The absence of itself, anyway
Some part of me must have died
Each time that you called me, “Baby”
But some part of me stayed alive
Each time that you called, each time that you called
Come here
Ooh-la-la, ooh-la-la
Whatever keeps you around, it keeps you around
Ooh-la-la, come here, ooh-la-la
Whatever keeps you around, it keeps you around
The last time it was heard out loud
The perfect genius of our hands and mouths were shocked
To resignation as the arguing declined
When I was young I used to guess
Are there limits to any emptiness?
When was the last time
Come here to me, when was the last time?
Some part of me must have died
The final time that you called me, “Baby”
But some part of me came alive
The final time you called me, “Baby”
